G-Cloud knowledge “still cloudy”

A new study has concluded that public sector knowledge of the G-Cloud procurement framework remains relatively small.

Commissioned by IT services firm Six Degrees Group (6DG), the research surveyed a number of UK civil servants, of which 66 per cent claimed to have no knowledge of the initiative.

The survey, which was answered by delegates at Civil Service Live in July, was conducted to gain an idea of the sector’s understanding of G-Cloud.

Three quarters of respondents reported they were unaware of any advantages of procuring through the framework, which 6DG claims represents Whitehall not doing enough to educate civil servants about the platform.

Last year, the group conducted research which yielded similar findings – a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed 76 per cent of local authorities had no G-Cloud knowledge and only 38 of councils questioned have actually used the framework to buy their cloud services.

“The initiative has the power to transform radically how authorities interact with cloud providers. However, as the findings from both surveys have shown, the public sector remains unaware of the many benefits that using the G-Cloud framework can provide.

“It’s a framework designed specifically for the public sector, so it’s essential that they know what it is and how it can benefit them,” he added.